Flight 162
by WhatGraceHasGiven
Summary: Flight 162 will not land on time.


Flight 162

Summary: Flight 162 will not land on time.

The night sky was a thick navy blue and one could vaguely make out clouds floating off in the distance. The gray-white plane rested with the engines running as people checked vital things from on the ground. Jennie and Johnny Cade walked slowly up the aisle, avoiding people as best as they could; Jennie dragged a suitcase behind her, the wheels sliding quietly against the carpeted Airport floor, and Johnny walked next to his sister with a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Jennie was reading a plane schedule as she walked and she only looked up now and then.

"What flight are we?" Johnny asked, readjusting the bag on his shoulder.

"One sixty-two, I think." Jennie replied. "We have time to find our plane before it takes off." They had already had their baggage checked—twice, actually, because there had been a problem with the people ahead of them, so everyone had to be checked twice—and the only thing left to do was find the airplane that would take them to New York.

"That would be a good thing." Johnny said under his breath, and Jennie smiled over at him.

"Don't be so worried. You trust Dallas…don't you?"

"Well, _yeah_, but…"

"Oh, sorry, there's our plane!" Jennie apologized for interrupting and walked faster towards the lady accepting tickets from people.

Jennie gave her the tickets, both hers and Johnny's, and the lady smiled. "Have a nice flight." And Jennie and Johnny walked into the plane.

"Seats C2 and C4—we're right next to each other." Jennie said, looking over the ticket.

They found their seats and put the luggage in the overhead space. They really didn't need much room for two bags. Jennie opened the window and stared down at the sidewalk, which was bathed in the color of the sky. A few moments passed by before the captain's voice rang out over the intercom, "Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm Roger Harrison and I'll be taking all you lovely folks to New York today. This flight is one way, meaning we will not be changing planes at all. If I could ask you all to fasten your seatbelts now, we'll take off in a moment."

Jennie was smiling as she fastened her seatbelt, but Johnny was whiter than a ghost. "You think this'll be it?" Johnny asked.

"What?"

"You think we'll crash?"

Jennie brightened, as if a new idea just dawned on her. "Is that why you've been so scared lately?" She laughed. "No, I don't think we'll crash! We're safer up here than we are in a car…"

"Who's driving the car? Dallas?" Johnny asked.

"I said _safe_. Dallas' driving isn't anymore safer than standing in front of a moving train."

Johnny laughed a little, but he still looked blanched. Jennie noticed this. "Hey, I'm serious. We're not going to crash!"

The engine started and Johnny jumped a bit. Jennie shook her head and sat back, looking out the window as they began to drive slowly to the runway. Jennie smiled, excited, as they turned onto the runway just as a plan was taking off. She had never been in a plane before, and she was having the time of her life—unlike Johnny, who was scared beyond belief that the plane would crash.

They started slowly down the runway, Jennie grinning from ear-to-ear and looking out her window as the ground rushed by. The plan gained speed and suddenly Jennie saw the ground get lower and lower as the plane went higher and higher. "We're going to be three-thousand feet off the ground!" Jennie said in excitement. Johnny only closed his eyes.

Jennie knew she shouldn't have said that, so she quickly added, "We'll be _safely_ three-thousand feet off the ground. Real safe…"

Johnny said nothing. Their ears were popping from the new altitude they were at, but Jennie's vegetarian gum wasn't chewy and wouldn't help at all. As Johnny tried to focus on the back of the seat in front of him, Jennie was staring in awe down at the ground. "Oh, yeah, Johnny…there'll be some turbulence, so just don't worry."

"Turbulence?"

"Yeah, it's like bumps in the road…only when you're in the air. Turbulence is usually a good thing…I think."

"How long did you say we'd be on this plane?" Johnny asked.

"Almost two and a half hours."

"Great…"

"Hey, it's just what Dal told me. If that's wrong, it's his entire fault." Jennie finally sat back and only looked out the window so she could see the clouds, not the ground. She really wanted Johnny to feel better about flying. She wanted him to know it really wasn't terrible, and it really was safe. Jennie knew for a fact this was safer than driving.

Jennie watched a man in a black suit walk down the aisle. He looked important and he smelled heavily of something Jennie couldn't identify. But it was a strong smell. A lady followed him to wherever they were going—a blonde-haired lady in a gray, form-fitting lawyer's outfit. Jennie knew she could never be a lawyer—not only because she'd never afford college, but because she couldn't argue with anyone. She was a lot like Johnny in that way.

"You think we'll be found?" Johnny asked after a long moment of quiet between them.

"Not for a couple of years at least…not in New York. There's too many places we can be, and they don't know we're in New York. By time mom and the old man realize we're really not coming back, we'll be hidden nicely with Dal's friends on the West Side." Jennie said. "And even if we were caught three or four years from now, the most they could do was charge us with running away because we'll both be over eighteen then."

Johnny had been thinking the same thing, but it was nice to hear it from someone else. He nodded and, for once, looked past Jennie and out the window. He didn't know why, but he felt that something was wrong. Not with the plane, but with the people on it.

He just didn't know what he was feeling yet…


End file.
